Category: Dear Dad

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little temptations and the diet

hungry during a diet?
Hungry during a diet? That’s normal… but why do I always find interesting things to explore when I am dieting?? CLICK on picture for something fun!

 I have always found dieting a bit challenging, after all it doesn’t seem at all a very natural thing to do. However, I am sure the evolutionary psychologists might tell me that periods of feast and famine were very nature in the human experience and that I am only duplicating the experience of my ancestors. However, knowing why I do something doesn’t make it any easier.

Obiously the tempting Concord Grapes dangling over 12 feet of picnic tables and patios is only a slight irritation, but finding recipes new bagels designed to hold several times the goodies that a regular one might hold doesn’t make it any easier! CLICK on the picture above to see what I mean.

With Thanksgiving not all that long away, I am ready for something extravagant… maybe, another yummy Ostro-Turgoosen ducken bird!

😉

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brown sugar biscotti with pine nuts and almonds

Brown Sugar Biscotti with Pine Nuts and Almonds

I remember asking my grandmother once how she ‘improvises’ in the kitchen and she gave the usual ‘trial and error’ answer, but on closer inspection I realized that she worked in two very distinct ways. First, she would vary the proportions and types of ingredients which offered a few extra notes to the basic recipe. But more importantly, there were times when she would depart significantly and approach the ‘problem’ in an entire new way. For example, why use the same ingredients in making certain noodle with sauce recipes that were designed before the advent of real refrigeration? Logic must triumph over tradition at times.

This goes a long way to say that I tried a variation of our Biscotti recipe with the addition of brown sugar. Using brown sugar has some significant limitations… but under the heat of making the biscotti added something nice. Oh yes, I added a small amount of pine nuts to the project, not enough to make Laura object ( as they are around 11 calories each!), but enough to make an effect.

Yummy there were!

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quaker oats steel cut is great

quaker steel cut oats
My Quaker Steel Cut Oats Arrived! CLICK on picture for manufacturer's site

The last post I made on the subject of steel cut oats ran along the lines of  ‘I wonder if Quaker makes this?’ I checked it out and found that the best way for me to buy this was on-line. Our ancestors in San Luis Obispo are used to buying at a great distance. A hundred years or so, people here abouts would by everything from clothes to prefab homes via the Sears Catalogue of their day. We have some aspects of civilization, but most of us have to go on line. 😉

Anyway, I ordered my oatmeal and checked it out… perfect!  For guys like me who lived on this during my youth and young struggling times… it is a wonderful memory.

I hear they have it at Target out West… but that’s a ways for us!

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Do you celebrate birthdays or hold a month long celebration?

An old family favorite : Cantonese Sweet & Sour Pork — CLICK on the picture for a link to the recipe

Well, when you try to celebrate two birthdays together you need to have a dish that everyone loves. In our family, one of our favorites is Sweet and Sour Pork… and an apple pie! It may sound a bit unusual for someone to prefer an apple pie over the tradition birthday cake, but if that’s what the birthday girls want… that’s what they get!  Karla also started a fun tradition of having little celebrations of someone’s birthday ( hers in particular) all month long… it can be a little fun…. but challenging.

our apple pie
Not just any apple pie will do… See Canyon Apples, a special nutty cobler topping and our own sauce makes it wonderful.

O
h yes, we can’t forget presents and those little touches that make anyone smile.

‘Happy Birthday Laura and Mom.’